Ali Dastmalchian

Environmental Dependencies and Company Structures in Britain

Adopting a resource-dependency approach to the concept of environment, this paper operationalizes the concept of dependence on various aspects of the organizations environments, using mainly the analytical approach suggested by Jacobs (1974). Using data from 29 companies in Britain, the relationships between dependence and structure are examined. The results showed the inadequacy of using dependence as a global concept, and the influence of other contingent factors on dependence-structure relationships. It is suggested that dependence produces the structural characteristics, particularly in the relevant sub-units, designed to maintain administrative control.

Why planning in state enterprises doesn't work

Abstract In a study of chief executive officers at 65 provincially controlled corporations in Canada, it was discovered that most of the companies in the sample had set up formal planning systems but were not very satisfied with their outputs. This was shown to be due to the reasons for the establishment of such systems and the attitudes towards them. This article presents a set of recommendations on how to improve strategic planning at state-owned enterprises while taking into consideration their particular characteristics and constraints.

Environmental Dependence and Departmental Structure: Case of the Marketing Function

This paper reports the results of a study examining the relationships between market and customer dependencies and the structure of the marketing departments (boundary-spanning units) in 44 electronics/telecommunications companies in Canada. Data were collected by means of personal interviews with senior management and marketing officials in each company. The results show that product market dependency has positive effects on specialization and the level of integration of the marketing function, while customer dependency has a positive impact on centralization of decision making in the departments. When these relationships were compared in high and low performing firms in the sample, they were mostly evident only in more succesful ones. In addition, product market dependency had a positive impact on departmentalformalization in more successful units. Implications of the findings for research on dependence-structure relationships are discussed.

Organizational resource dependencies and goal orientation

Abstract This paper examines the relationships between organizational dependencies on its environments and organizational goal orientation, as perceived by members, by means of an exploratory study using data from 15 industrial companies in Britain. The results show that the organizations external goal orientation is related to the resource-dependence aspects of its relevant environments.

The Relationship between Growth Strategy and Market Performance in Technology-Based Manufacturing Companies

This paper examines the relationships between product-market policy options, market performances and the growth strategies adopted by forty-two technology-based manufacturing firms. The results show that product-market policy options are significantly different for diversified firms compared to firms which pursue product or market-based strategies. Additional analysis indicates that the market performances of diversified firms are weaker than that of other firms. Few differences in performance were noted among firms pursuing product development, market development, or market penetration strategies, i.e. the marketing managers’ perceptions and objective evaluations of market performances are similar for firms pursuing these strategies.

Book Reviews : Steve Minett: Power, Politics and Participation in the Firm

was ’really’ going on. I think this is for two reasons. The first is that the view we are given is so much a close-up of the specific actions, that we are unable to see the complete picture. The second is that this close-up view comes to us through a systems-theory lens that tends to obfuscate rather than illuminate. The fundamental challenge for this approach would be to offer explanations for behaviour within the industry that could not be provided by a neo-institutional economist who was historic-

Correlates of decision making autonomy in marketing units: A study of Canadian advanced technology manufacturing companies

The appropriate structure and design of marketing units is important in achieving a company’s long term strategic goals. This research addresses this issue by examining the design of marketing decision making structures (level of decision making decentralization) in a sample of 30 advanced technology manufacturing companies located in Canada. Respondents were asked to report for each of seven marketing decisions whether authority to make those decisions was with the senior marketing manager, above, or below the senior marketing manager. The results show that while marketing decision making is to a considerable degree a general management responsibility, autonomy of marketing managers is related to market, product, and overall organizational characteristics of the companies studied. Key words: decision making autonomy, marketing manager, advanced technology, marketing success.